The present invention relates generally to a welding stability system for arc welding.
Gas metal arc welding (GMAW), or metal inert gas (MIG) welding is an arc welding process where a wire and shielding (welding) gas are fed through a welding gun. The shielding gas is directed into the welding zone while an electric current is passed through the air (i.e., an arc) from the electrode to the work piece. The shielding gasses protect the weld from atmospheric contamination in order to improve the characteristics of the weld. Stability of the arc can be significantly affected by the type of shielding gasses used. As a result, specific mixtures of shielding gasses are commonly used to improve the weld quality. The gas mixtures are supplied in pre-mixed tanks or in bulk systems employing a gas mixer. In either case, the ratios of various gas components are fixed, and so are not adjustable during the welding process even though the amount of penetration, the spatter generation, and the physical appearance are some of the attributes affected by the shielding gas mixture selected. Moreover, instability of the arc at the start of the weld has a great affect on the entire weld since up to eighty percent of weld spatter may be generated at the time of arc start. These types of issues may also be a cause for concern in other types of arc welding, such as, for example, flux cored arc welding (FCAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and plasma arc welding (PAW).